Bruce Wood Dance Project demonstrates the healing power of dance in Artistic Director Kimi Nikaidoh’s new work Bloom, part of the company’s SIX performance this weekend.

Dallas – Bruce Wood was known for making dances that touched viewers in very real ways. He created dances about human nature, the good the bad and the ugly. So, it comes as no surprise that long-time Bruce Wood dancer Kimi Nikaidoh would draw from her own personal experiences to aid in the creation of her new work Bloom, part of the Bruce Wood Dance Project’sSIX performance Nov. 11-12 at Dallas City Performance Hall.

The work, which focuses on the healing and reclaiming of hope through recovery in a number of poignant solos, duets and trios, was inspired by the emotional rollercoaster Nikaidoh experienced during the lowest points in her life – in particular the passing of her brother and her broken engagement. “This piece is about broken people and the people who are willing to use their own emotional resources to help them heal,” Nikaidoh says. “For me, it wasn’t the people who told me everything would be ok that really helped, but those people who came in and just did life with me every single day. I chose the title Bloom because that word symbolizes what is possible after the healing is done.”

Nikaidoh explains that the work takes place in a room and the individuals coming in are there to help heal those already in the space from whatever tragic event has lead them there. With that said the piece not only challenges the dancers technically, but emotionally as well. Instead of the stoic expressions commonly associated with modern dance the eight dancers in the piece express a number of conflicting emotions, including anger, frustration, sadness, acceptance and hope, which when combined with Nikaidoh’s lovely musical phrasing and unexpected movement choices, tells a story everyone can relate too.

To help bring her vision to fruition, Nikaidoh enlisted the talents of Dallas-based visual artist and AURORA co-founder Shane Pennington. Pennington was a recipient of the New Dallas Nine award from D Magazine and has exhibited internationally at the Paddington Contemporary Gallery in Sydney, Australia and at Sur la Montagne in Berlin.

Not wanting to give too much away, Nikaidoh says Pennington’s contributions have included a stage design and film that present the illusion the dancers and audience are in an actual room. She does share with me one of her favorite projections which is a floor to ceiling window that overlooks a city scene. “We really wanted to make you feel like you’re looking out this window from inside the room.”

When asked what the hardest part of this process has been, Nikaidoh paused for beat before saying it has been figuring out when to rely on the dancers’ strengths and when to test them movement wise. “Bruce was good at knowing when to use our strengths and when to push us. In the past I have changed movement that felt unnatural to the dancers, but in this piece I kept some of the unnatural movements anyways because I want the dancers to always be growing.” One example of this unnatural movement occurs after the dancers perform a series of winding body movements in one direction and then have to reverse the entire phrase without losing their momentum.

The choreography is mostly comprised of non-stop spiraling floor work and traveling movement, staccato arm gestures, collapsed body positions and naturally evolving partnering skills. When I commented that the dancers make the complicated partnering sections of this piece look effortless Nikaidoh says, “That’s because the partnering in this piece was very much a collaborative effort between me and the dancers. I would ask the dancers where they wanted to go next with the movement, which is something Bruce would always ask us in rehearsal.” This explains why the partnering sections come across as one continuous line of thought instead of a bunch of static shapes and choppy transitions. One example is when Emily Perry crawls through the legs of Albert Drake who proceeds to grab her ankles as he executes a forward roll landing on his back, which sets him up to catch Perry as she falls backwards. Another example is when Brock James Henderson spins Joy Atkins Bollinger around in small circles as she opens herself up into a starfish shape with her feet just skimming the floor.

You can see Bloom along with Bruce Wood’s classic No Sea To Sail In and Katarzyna Skarpetowska’s new work Klezmer Rodeo at the company’s SIX performance at the Dallas City Performance Hall this weekend.